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Since this summer, the United States has generally played a constructive role in support of the Syrian opposition. In contrast to Russia and China—whose flags are now routinely torched by Syrians after the two countries vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the Assad regime for atrocities—Washington is popular with Syria’s anti-regime opposition. Although it took seven months and approximately 2000 dead protestors, in August President Obama called for Assad to “step aside.” Since then, in addition to orchestrating an impressive array of multilateral energy sanctions against Damascus, the administration—via its ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who was pulled from the country over the weekend after “credible threats against his personal safety”—has...